Local, independent bookstores have never been more important. With fair access to literature under political attack, bookstores are a bulwark against censorship and an asset to the communities they serve.

Each week we profile an independent bookstore, discovering what makes each one special and getting their expert book recommendations.

This week we have Neighborhood Reads in Washington, Missouri!

What’s your store’s story?

Neighborhood Reads owner Dawn Kitchell co-founded a program 22 years ago to deliver new, quality hardback books to her local schools every month. That makes 136 books a year to every school (40+) in the area. She created reading programs and invited authors to her community and hoped that someone would open a bookstore to complement these efforts. Finally, after 15 years of waiting, she decided to open the bookstore herself.

Check out: USA TODAY's weekly Best-selling Booklist

She bought a 120-year-old house, renovated it, established a Foundation, and opened Neighborhood Reads in June 2017 with a mission to keep her community reading. Neighborhood Reads, with its sister Community Literacy Foundation, continues the Book Buddy project, connecting children in Washington and the surrounding communities with beautiful new books in their school libraries and in their bookstore! Children's books inspired our founding, but Neighborhood Reads is filled with new books for all ages and interests, as well as gifts for everyone.

What makes your independent bookstore unique?

Neighborhood Reads is located in an adorable historic neighborhood in Downtown Washington, Missouri, and we're pretty sure it's one of the cutest bookstores. Washington sits on the Missouri River and is about an hour west of St. Louis. We have a giant Dawn Redwood tree in the backyard, and every Saturday morning in the spring, summer and fall you'll find us sharing stories underneath it. Our customers' favorite thing about our store is Benji, our lovable Goldendoodle who loves books (and kids). Our bookstore is a gathering place and we work hard to keep our community reading with a curated inventory, lots of community programs, and outreach.

What book do you love to recommend to customers and why?

Our favorite book to recommend to customers is "Read to Your Baby Every Day: 30 Classic Nursery Rhymes to Read Aloud" by Chloe Giordano and Rachel Williams. It's the first book in the Stitched Storytime series. Nursery rhymes aren't as well-known today, and this is a beautiful book to introduce young families to classic nursery rhymes.

What book do you think deserves more attention and why?

So many picture books! Honestly, picture books are works of art and should be appreciated and enjoyed by all ages. There are so many good picture books with incredible storytelling and beautiful illustrations and it's so frustrating when these treasures sit on the shelf undiscovered! Recently, I wish folks would discover "How Do You Spell Unfair? MacNolia Cox and the National Spelling Bee" by Carole Boston Weatherford (author) and Frank Morrison (illustrator). The new release I'm loving is Lisa Papp's "Madeline Finn and the Blessing of the Animals."

What books/series are you most excited about coming out in the next few months?

I'm excited about the release of Peter Brown's "The Wild Robot Protects." We're sending Sophie Blackall's "If I was a Horse" to schools in November, along with "Stickler Loves the World" by Lane Smith and Kate DiCamillo's "The Puppets of Spelhorst."

Why is shopping at local, independent bookstores important?

We had a young man come into the bookstore recently. He said he had just started reading books. I asked him what inspired him to do that, and he said his mental health. He spent all of his time scrolling his phone and it was having a negative effect on his mental health, so recently he decided to set his phone aside and read a book. He couldn't believe how good it felt, so he was looking for his next book.

He didn't know we had a bookstore in our community, but he found us. He knew what he was after, but asked for a few recommendations and pre-ordered one of my suggestions. Every aspect of that interaction is why local bookstores are important. Most importantly, this young man found our bookstore and had a place to share what he was going through. Human, one-on-one interaction. Then, there's the magic of books. We all know what that is.

What are some of your store's events, programs, or partnerships coming up this quarter that you would like to share?

We had an amazing summer reading program and we're still riding the high of that! We created a game called Reader Land and had hundreds of people of all ages participating. It was incredible.

We just had our second Grown-Up Book Fair off-site at a local winery — it appeals to a younger crowd, which is wonderful. October 14 we hosted our annual Run to Read 5K Walk/Run/Story Stroll in partnership with our Foundation and welcoming author Lesley Kimmelman to share her picture book "Ready, Set, Run! The Amazing New York City Marathon." The timing was just perfect because the 2023 NYC Marathon was Nov. 5.